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Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

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Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#391

Post by SkyBelow »

mstudio wrote: post #283

Totally agree. After reading so many reviews panning the new MBPs, I ended up replacing my ancient 2011 MBP with a 2015 model. You can still find new/unopened or relatively unused models on eBay. I love this laptop. i7, 16GB memory, AMD Radeon R9, great keyboard with F-keys... plus, it has all the standard ports I need: USB, HDMI, Thunderbolt. All for much less money than a new machine from Apple. No complaints at al…

Do you have any recommendations on what to look for and how to avoid laptops with issues? I have a family member who is going to college and insistent on getting an Apple laptop. This will be her only machine and so my concern is that if anything happens, she won't have a fall back, while when I buy laptops for myself I'm fine taking a gamble as I have other options.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#392

Post by cageface »

zeus_hammer wrote: post #386
platetone wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really tempted here. I've got a paid Ableton license, and I absolutely love Ableton, but it's the main thing keeping me from dumping Windows 10 for Linux.

Transitioning between Ableton and Bitwig is seamless from a UI standpoint. They have essentially the same controls. The only thing that isn't great moving from Windows to Linux for production is your VST ecosystem becomes much more limited. Running plugins under WINE is alright, but if they're heavy you'll run into latency issues. There's a sizable collection of plugins that are native under Linux though[0]. I've use…

You can get pretty far with the built in instruments and effects in Bitwig, especially with the new modular grid. I haven't felt much need for third party stuff.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#393

Post by amalantony06 »

jonheller wrote: post #219
tpush wrote: post #37

"8-9 hours with all apps closed except Safari. Browsing lightly, with an occasional video, and brightness at the literal minimum. This brightness level is only realistic if it's night time. In a normally lit environment you need to set the brightness level at around 50%." "When I push the laptop a bit more, with a few Docker containers, Pycharm running, Google Chrome with some Docs opened, and brightness near the max…

I have a six month old Thinkpad X1 Carbon and get about 1.5 hours. Pretty ridiculous.

That's crazy. Is it the 4K display?

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#394

Post by devmunchies »

> became unusable due to macOS, not hardware, issues

I'm on a 2013 iMac and i was 2.5 years behind on OS upgrading. I just upgraded last week and now i get the beach ball spinner when opening a directory in the finder. It is absolutely OS related.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#395

Post by jungletime »

I have a 2013 macbook. But I think I will update to a hackintosh, and an ipad as my next two computers.

I never built a hackintosh, but saw some guides on youtube. Seems simple enough. I do occasional video editing in final cut, and programming.

The 2013 13 inch macbook, has been good so far. But 98% of the time its connected to an external monitor and mouse and keyboard. The 13 inch macbook is still too big to use on an airplane seat. For the occasional travel, I think an ipad will work better for that and in bed.

The biggest gripes for me are with the macbook/os

1. It came with 128 GB, which I partitioned to use half with windows. I'm running out of space all the time.

2. It came with 2 usb ports and 2 lightning ports. I have never used a lighting port, but I'm always short a usb port. I use a dongle for external mouse and keyboard, so it takes up one usb port. But if I want to edit a movie, or files. I hook up an external drive and then I'm short a USB port. I wish there was a lightning 2 port to USB cable. I use a USB hub, but it craps out eventually.

3. I dread updating, because recreating my python and windows programming environments would take a month.

4. I hate "Finder". It does weird things all the time. Takes 3 seconds to create a folder. Moving files requires a holding down a key. Windows explorer was much more snappier and useful.

5. My trash bin accumulates things which it won't let me delete.

I'm budgeting $750 hackintosh and $300 ipad. I think will give me more power and portability. Plush I'll still have my old macbook.

Maybe I'll budget $200 for a good mechanical keyboard and mouse this time.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#396

Post by Nextgrid »

thunfischbrot wrote: post #204
alpaca128 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. Also the automatic updates which potentially just close an open session including unsaved files is not something that helps trust. Windows has become less transparent and much more controlling, actively ignoring or overriding user preferences, and I don't know why I should use a software like that, not to mention pay for the "privilege" of being messed with.

I wish Windows 10 LTSC was the base for all other Windows 10 OS versions. An expensive version that is easy to use with few distractions, does not need a full-time system administrator to run and just works.

I installed the Enterprise LTSC version on my new gaming machine and saw all the usual bullshit you'd expect from consumer-grade Windows 10.

A deceptive setup screen that asks you to create a Microsoft account (you need to use the "Domain join" button to be able to create a local admin account, there is no "local account" button by itself).

Spyware features like "personalization", advertising identifier, etc that I needed to uncheck (during the initial setup process there are at least 10 things I had to disable or say no to), also there's a subtle dark pattern going on with the button to go to the next screen, it's no longer called "Next" but "Accept" instead (even if you disable all the proposed options).

Despite the watermark on the wallpaper correctly saying "Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC" I can still only select "Basic" telemetry in the settings. I am not sure whether it's a quirk of the evaluation version or if I need to use a group policy to disable it.

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#397

Post by bragh »

fortran77 wrote: post #331
vijucat wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> stuff like your OS restarting behind your back whenever you lock your screen and walk away https://imgur.com/a/qAWLzsu Maybe it's been a couple of years since you tried Windows? Right now, if you go to the Windows Update part of Settings, the top 2 options are: a) "Pause updates for 7 days" and b) "Change active hours", which can be used to specify an 18-hour window within which, "We won't automatically restart you…

It's a shame that anti-Microsoft zealots use Hacker News to spread lies. I don't know what trying to restrict people's choices is supposed to accomplish for our industry.

You are laying it on a bit thick there. How can you justify the next stage of the embrace-extend-extinguish cycle and spying on users as enabling more choice?

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#398

Post by ziml77 »

I don't understand what Apple is doing with the touchbar. Before I used it, I was thinking that the gimmick didn't look as bad as people were making it out to be. After I used it, I returned the laptop.

Why does it activate without any haptic feedback just from brushing against it? Obviously they know how to do both of those things; it's how the trackpad on the same device works!

Re: Seven years later, I bought a new MacBook. For the first time, I don't love it

#400

Post by aequitas »

baxtr wrote: post #383
fluffything wrote: post #353

I also still have the same MacBook air as the author and have been wanting to upgrade for... 2 years or so. Not only the Webcam is a downgrade. You also loose Magsafe. Not a big loss, but a downgrade none the less. > The touchbar. [...] Regular users probably find it useful and cute. No they don't. My GF bought herself a new Macbook because... she has an iPhone and thought "For what I use the computer, any computer s…

Maybe I am dumb and stupid, but I actually like the Touch Bar... ESC key is a bit annoying but I don't mind it that much.

I was sceptical about the Touchbar at first, but then when I got my hand on it to test and really do some actual work, the usefulness of the contextual actions really grew on me. Then it dawned that I would only be using the Touchbar half of the time, since the other half I have my Macbook "docked" and am using an external keyboard. So I can probably never adapt the Touchbar into an daily workflow. Unless Apple releases an external keyboard with Touchbar, I wouldn't mind the cable, but the price will probably be a no-go.
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